Women's basketball winter-break recap

GVL / Matt Read. The Girls Basketball team playing this past Saturday @ the Recreation Center. They were matched up against Northern and were able to win in Overtime.

Grand Valley State 73 vs. Purdue Northwest 53

For most college students, the first weekend of winter break means lounging on their big, soft couches in the house they grew up in, eating potato chips and recharging their minds after finals week.

The members of the Grand Valley State women’s basketball team are not like most college students, however. Instead of taking a load off their feet, they buried the Purdue Northwest Pride in Hammond, Indiana, under a barrage of buckets led by sophomore guard Jenn DeBoer’s 14-point, six-assist performance. She also nabbed a game-high three steals, which contributed to GVSU’s 15 points off turnovers.

GVSU controlled almost the entire game, as the Pride only led once by 2 points at the 9:15 mark in the first quarter before the Lakers took over for the rest of the contest.

The victory improved the Lakers to 9-2 (4-1 GLIAC) and knocked the Pride to 1-8 (1-4 GLIAC). GVSU’s next contest took place Tuesday, Dec. 19, against Aquinas (9-6) at the Fieldhouse Arena in Allendale.

Grand Valley State 68 vs. Aquinas 55

The Grand Valley State women’s basketball team celebrated the holiday season the only way a team in the midst of a budding win streak knew how to: by beating the Aquinas Saints handily by a score of 68-55.

Senior center Korynn Hincka was the star of the show for the cold-shooting Lakers, as she scored 19 points on 7-12 shooting, hauled in ten rebounds and captured three steals amidst a GVSU squad that shot 26-62 (41.9 percent) from the field and 3-21 (14.3 percent) from 3-point land.

The key to the game for GVSU was offensive rebounding, as the Lakers managed to grab 41.6 percent of their misses en route to 14 second-chance points—more than the 13-point difference between the two squads at the end of the contest.

With the win, the Lakers improved to 10-2, while the Saints dropped to 9-7. GVSU closed out 2017 with a home contest against the Cornerstone Eagles (9-8) on Saturday, Dec. 30.

Grand Valley State 84 vs. Cornerstone 46

Before popping corks and watching the ball drop into a new year, the Grand Valley State women’s basketball team hosted the Cornerstone Eagles on Saturday, Dec. 30, in their last game of the year. The 5 p.m. matchup between fellow West Michigan foes was a lopsided one as the Lakers romped their crosstown opponents 84-46.

GVSU kept their opponents from leading a single second of the game and were able to keep all of their starters from playing any more than 24 minutes, a worthy rest despite the 11-day period between this and their previous game.

Sophomore center Cassidy Boensch stole the show with 18 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks in only 16 minutes off the bench. Sophomore guard Jenn DeBoer added 16 points, three assists and two steals, and freshman guard Mackenzie Harbort added 12 points in 12 minutes while hitting three of her five 3-point attempts.

Now at 11-2 and on a four-game winning streak, the Lakers sat out of action until Thursday, Jan. 4, when they traveled to Midland, Michigan, to battle with the Northwood Timberwolves (8-3, 4-1 GLIAC) at the Riepma Arena.

Grand Valley State 73 vs. Northwood 55

The Grand Valley State Lakers rang in 2018 with a 73-55 victory over the Northwood Timberwolves to extend their win streak to a season-long five games.

Four different Lakers scored double-digit points while seven different players secured at least three rebounds in an all-around team effort by GVSU. Sophomore forward Maddie Dailey led the way in scoring with 17 points, followed closely by sophomore center Cassidy Boensch (16), junior guard Natalie Koenig (14) and senior center Korynn Hincka (13).

Additionally, only four Lakers registered an assist on the evening (Koenig, Hincka, Taylor Parmley and Jenn DeBoer), though they managed to drop dimes on 16 of the team’s 23 buckets on the night. GVSU also saw a considerable improvement in their shooting from long range as a team, connecting on 11 of their 24 3-point attempts, good for 45.8 percent. That mark is up from 27.3 percent in their previous game against Cornerstone, which was up from 14.3 percent against Aquinas.

The victory improved the Lakers to 12-2 (5-1 GLIAC), while knocking the Timberwolves to 8-4 (4-2 GLIAC). Conference play rolled on in the new year when the rival Saginaw Valley State Cardinals strolled into Allendale for Battle of the Valleys. GVSU beat SVSU 70-48 in their first home game of 2018, improving their record to 13-2 (6-1 GLIAC), while SVSU fell to 3-11 (3-4 GLIAC).